


Kaulua

by stellarmeadow



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Coda, M/M, Missing Scene, Mutual Pining, s9 coda series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-07-21 00:23:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16148669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarmeadow/pseuds/stellarmeadow
Summary: Kaulua (ka'u-l?'a), n., v.1. Slackness; delay; procrastination; hesitation.2. To be slack; to be remiss in fulfilling a promise; to delay the time of doing a thing.3. To put two together; to yoke or harness together.aka - the season 9 coda series. in a nutshell..





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am back for the SIXTH (yes, sixth, and no, I can't believe it either) H50 McDanno coda series. (Seven if you count S3 but since that was just a single stand alone, even though I did it for every single ep, I don't really count it quite the same). 
> 
> Hope you enjoy, don't forget to tip the cook, 'cause that's the only payment she gets for this, and send smudgegirl some wine, because she puts up with my whine, and my insecurities, and catching my stupid mistakes, and also doesn't get paid for this, and she deserves alcohol and thanks. 
> 
> Strap yourselves in, keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times, and here we go....

Steve unlocked his front door, looking over his shoulder at Danny. “I’m just saying, if you hadn’t been a jerk to him, he wouldn’t have kicked us out.”

“Explain to me again why Kamekona can kick us out of our own restaurant?”

“Suitcases full of cash,” Steve said, closing the door once Danny was inside. “And he didn’t really order us so much as suggest maybe we’d like a night off.

“Felt more like an order.”

“Danny, did you really want to stay and listen to Kamekona direct the workmen on moving lights?”

Danny pulled an exaggerated frown. “No.”

“Okay, then, how about you let it go?” As Danny opened his mouth to no doubt not let it go, Steve added, “I’ll even make you dinner if you let it go.”

He considered that for a moment, then nodded. “Great,” Steve said. “Grab some beers and I’ll meet you on the lanai.”

***

Steve dropped his fork on his plate and leaned back, taking a long drink of his Longboard. The breeze off the ocean kept the lanai from being too warm, even with the grill still cooling, and the sound of waves was as soothing as ever. 

He looked over at Danny to find a strange expression on his face. “What? Steve asked.

Danny shook his head. “Just wondering if I was going to have to restrain you before you went all SEAL on me and decided to go for a midnight swim.”

While there were a few ways that he wouldn’t mind Danny restraining him, some things were definitely better left unsaid. “Sorry,” Steve said. “I’m too full and too comfortable to go for a swim.”

Danny made an exaggerated point of looking around. “Funny,” he said, after a moment, “I totally expected someone to come out of the water and take away your trident for saying that.”

Steve rolled his eyes, finishing his beer before he said, “You have very strange ideas about how the Navy works, Danno.”

“Maybe,” Danny said, finishing his own beer. “I get what you mean about being comfortable, though.” He sunk into the chair like he was boneless. “It’s nice, and not something we’ll be doing a lot of after the restaurant opens.”

Given their tendency to be working until all hours, it wasn’t something they could count on doing that often now, but he had a point. “Of course, we’ll be doing a lot of this,” Steve said, as he picked up his plate. He stood, grabbing Danny’s plate in the process. 

The clink of glass followed Steve into the kitchen, as Danny brought the empty beer bottles in. They moved around the kitchen with a practiced ease that somehow seemed more intimate this time. 

Or maybe Steve was just projecting.

He took his time washing and drying the last dish, the silence behind him unnerving. Danny was still there--his presence was unmissable, the way he breathed and something that always seemed to be in the air around him unmistakable. 

But he was being uncommonly quiet. 

Steve finished drying the dish at last and turned, gripping the edge of the sink behind him, to look at Danny. His expression was...odd. Not exactly unreadable; more like there was something there that Steve was misreading, because it couldn’t be what he thought. 

Clearly they’d both had a little too much beer. 

“So, uh...you wanna crash on my couch?” Steve asked.

Danny’s laughter seemed out of proportion for the question. “Sure,” he said. “Your couch. Yeah. That, uh...yeah.”

Steve scratched the back of his neck, then spied the left over salad on the table on the lanai. He went outside, picked it up, and turned around, only to run right into Danny. 

The salad hit the ground as Steve gripped Danny’s biceps to keep both of them from falling over. Danny’s hands went to Steve’s waist, and whatever Steve had tried to convince himself wasn’t in that look a minute ago, it was even harder to convince himself this close. 

“Sorry,” Steve said, his abdomen contracting at the feel of Danny’s thumbs sliding across it just a bit. “I’ll, um...I’ll get something to clean that up.”

He let go of Danny’s arms and stepped back, but his path to the kitchen had him brushing against Danny. Just as the contact ended, Danny’s hand wrapped around Steve’s arm, pulling him back. 

Before Steve could say anything, Danny pulled him into a kiss, and oh hell yeah, what he’d thought he’d seen was in every bit of that first touch of their lips, in the way Danny didn’t so much as suggest Steve bend down to kiss him as yank his head in, in the way that Danny’s cock was rather insistent where it pressed against Steve’s stomach.

“So,” Steve muttered against Danny’s lips, because he couldn’t manage to pull away enough to actually make the words entirely understandable, “not the couch?”

“Not the couch,” Danny said, pushing his whole body against Steve to get him to go in the house.

They made it up the stairs without falling, though how the hell they did would remain one of life’s mysteries. Because the only thing in the world was the way Danny felt and tasted, and the sounds he made when Steve nipped at the back of his neck. 

Who the hell could notice stairs when they had all that?

Steve’s shoulder slammed hard into the doorjamb on the way into the bedroom. He barely noticed, other than to recognize that they were finally in a room with a bed. 

He turned them around and shoved at Danny, who fell backwards onto the bed, a reckless grin on his face as he started removing his clothes. Steve followed suit, and quickly landed naked on the bed beside an equally naked Danny, the first touch of skin on skin practically from head to toe robbing Steve of the ability to breathe for a second.

He’d imagined this, dreamed about it, and never once let himself think he’d have it. 

But no, in his dreams it had always been perfect, and this, well, his shoulder still hurt a little from running into the door, and he couldn’t quite find a way to line their bodies up so he could both kiss Danny and get their cocks together in his hand. 

Which somehow just made it that much better. 

Okay, it might’ve been a while, but Steve could make this good. He knew how. He planted one more long kiss on Danny’s mouth before he slid down the length of Danny’s body, kissing every millimeter of skin he could manage along the way. 

Danny’s cock was a thing of beauty up close, as was the low half-hiss, half-moan he let out when Steve wrapped his hand loosely around it. Steve flicked his tongue against the underside of the tip, and Danny’s hips jerked up, bumping the head against Steve’s mouth.

Steve shifted to the side, pinning Danny’s legs and thighs under him before taking the whole head of Danny’s cock into his mouth. Danny was muttering, only snippets of words like ‘fuck’ and ‘Jesus’ and ‘Steve’ coming through in the long stream of whatever he was saying.

Danny couldn’t shut up, even in bed. What a surprise. 

The taste of him was stronger now, and Steve wanted more, wanted to suck and jerk Danny until Steve tasted everything Danny had to give. But it had been a while since he’d done this with a guy, and he also wanted it to be good. 

Danny was getting close, and Steve pulled off him reluctantly, wrapping his hand a little tighter around Danny’s cock, moving it faster as he watched Danny fall apart.

He’d always known Danny was beautiful, but it was a new level of gorgeous when Danny came, muscles taut, the definition of them something normally hinted at under Danny’s shirts but never quite revealed. 

Steve let go of Danny’s cock at last, wrapping his hand around his own cock instead, stroking himself as he watched Danny remember how to breathe. Steve’s breath hitched as Danny’s eyes opened, dark even in the bright moonlight, watching Steve’s hand move over his cock with an intense focus. 

“Let me,” Danny said, voice hoarse. He reached out, and Steve shifted his way up the bed so Danny could wrap his hand around Steve’s cock, warm and rough and the best thing Steve had ever felt in his life.

He couldn’t last, no matter how much he wanted to. He came hard, shuddering as he collapsed onto Danny, letting the steady rise and fall of Danny’s chest slowly bring him down. 

Steve rolled off onto his back after a moment, eyes closed, searching for the words to make this not awkward. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t both wanted it, but now that the urgent rush of need had passed...this was Danny. His best friend, his partner--twice over, in the field and in the restaurant.

Just how badly had they fucked this up?

Steve licked his lips, turning his head, Danny’s name on the tip of his tongue, only to find Danny fast asleep. 

So...not awkward then. 

Or at least not now. But he’d leave tomorrow’s worries for the morning. Right now he was going to enjoy the chance to sleep, naked and sated, next to Danny.

***

The first rays of daylight streamed into the room as Steve opened his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to remember what was different about the morning. 

Movement beside him provided the answer. Steve turned his head to see Danny laying on his back, spread out like he owned half the bed. Naked. 

Steve was definitely going to need coffee to deal with whatever fallout came of this.

He got up quietly, grabbed a pair of sweats and put them on outside the room before he made it to the stairs. He avoided the creaky stair as he padded down to the downstairs bathroom to wash up before heading into the kitchen. 

Experience had taught him that coffee would wake Danny up. But with any luck Steve would have some coffee in him by then and might have figured out the right thing to say. 

He was no closer to finding the words by the time the coffee was done brewing, though. He’d just started drinking when Danny walked in, clothes wrinkled, hair slicked back with water, the picture perfect image of a morning after.

Steve gripped his mug to keep from grabbing Danny as he made a beeline for the coffee pot. A few sips in, Danny leaned back against the counter and closed his eyes, a faint smile on his face.

“Whoever invented caffeine,” Danny said, “deserves the best afterlife ever.”

Steve laughed. “I thought you didn’t believe in the afterlife.”

Danny shrugged. “Didn’t say I do.” He took another drink of coffee. “But if ever someone deserved it, whoever invented caffeine does.”

There was no sign of awkwardness from Danny, and Steve let his shoulders slip a fraction of an inch away from his ears. “I can make some eggs,” Steve offered.

There was no mistaking how Danny tensed up at that suggestion. “I should really go home and change.” He gulped his coffee.

“Right, I should probably get ready to go in, too.”

Danny finished off his coffee. “Listen,” he said, not quite meeting Steve’s eyes, “about last night….”

Steve waved a hand. “Don’t worry,” he said, forcing an airiness into his tone that was in direct opposition to the heavy weight in his stomach. 

“Don’t worry?”

Danny’s tone was off, that awkwardness Steve had been dreading finally showing itself. “It doesn’t have to be a thing,” Steve said. 

“A thing?”

“Yeah.” A voice in his head that somehow managed to sound like Mary told him to shut the hell up, but he ignored it. “I mean, it happens, right?”

He chanced a look at Danny, his face unreadable. “Right,” Danny said at last, placing his mug in the kitchen with a little more care than it probably warranted. “It happens,” he said, nodding. 

“Yup, so we don’t really need to talk about it.”

Danny shook his head. “Apparently there’s nothing to talk about,” he said, his tone still a little odd. He pushed past Steve, managing somehow not to quite make any contact. “I’ll see you at HQ,” Danny said over his shoulder.

Danny’s name was on the tip of Steve’s tongue, to call him back and figure out what had just happened. He’d said what he thought Danny was leading up to before Danny had the chance, and yet Danny didn’t seem relieved, for all that he’d acted like he was fine. 

Maybe he wanted to talk more, to go in depth on how this wouldn’t mess with their partnerships, with their friendship--Danny was generally the ‘talk it out until you die’ type. Maybe that was all it was.

If things were weird when they got to work, then Steve would bring it up and give Danny the chance to talk all he wanted.

***

Steve didn’t make it all the way to his office before Danny was heading him off. “Case,” Danny said, tossing the keys to the Camaro to Steve. 

He caught them automatically, frowning as Danny walked past him like it was any other day. Danny turned when he was a few yards away and looked at Steve. “You coming?”

So much for things being awkward.

***

“The Governor and God, huh?”

“What’s that?”

“The woman,” Danny said. “She was flirting with you. Either that, or she was impressed for some ridiculous reason. Or,” he added, hand landing on Steve’s shoulder, “or you have hooked up with her. Which I know is the case here. You don’t have to answer. You can just grunt once if I’m right, okay?”

“Oh, God,” Steve said, with the most annoyed tone he could muster. Because the last thing he needed was Danny quizzing him about an old fling when Steve had spent the last week trying to forget about his recent fling with Danny. “It was a long time ago, okay? It was right after I got my trident. It was before Catherine. So it’s history. It’s ancient history.”

“You don’t have to justify anything to me,” Danny said. 

“I’m not justifying. I’m not justifying. I‘m telling you, I’m just saying.”

There was a slight pause before Danny said, his voice tight, “Let me ask you a question. Did you know that she was gonna be on the island?”

“No, Danny, I did not know she was on the island.”

“Okay, well, look, in my experience, one-night stands can--”

Oh no, Danny was the last person Steve wanted to talk one-night stands with right now. He headed that off by admitting it was a little more. 

But Danny wasn’t to be deterred. “The point is this, okay? This agent, this woman, she can help you solve your friend’s murder, and then the two of you can maybe get into some grown folks’ business, right?”

Okay, sure, they’d agreed what happened between them wasn’t a thing, but that was a far cry from Danny all but pushing him into someone else’s bed. “Get in the car, Danny.”

“Hold on,” Danny said. “I need you to stop living like a monk, okay?”

Really? _Really?_ If he needed that so badly maybe he shouldn’t have decided to forget about the two of them having sex. “Danny, get in the car.”

“I’m gonna get you an orange robe, I’m gonna make you wear it to work every day.”

“I don’t live like a monk, all right?” Which Danny, of all people, should know.

“You don’t?”

“No.”

“How many dates you been on since you broke up with Lynn?”

 _Does sleeping with you count?_ “Please get in the car.”

Danny didn’t get in the car. “Zero. Zero. _Zero._ ”

“Oh, yeah?” Steve said, getting in the car himself. “Look who’s counting.” Because Danny was clearly paying a lot of attention to Steve’s love life. 

“What am I counting?” Danny asked. “There’s nothing to count. Zero and zero is zero. There’s no math.”

Clearly. Certainly not the two of them getting into some ‘grown folks’ business’ as Danny put it. “Forget it, okay?”

Steve locked the door as he shut the door on Danny still rambling about math. “Seriously?” Danny said as he leaned down to look in the window. “You’re a child.”

Steve rolled the passenger window down half an inch. “Are you gonna stop with this?”

“I’m just saying--”

Steve rolled the window up and started the car. Danny knocked on the window, and after a second Steve sighed and unlocked the door. 

Danny got in, but he remained silent as Steve drove off. Which suited Steve fine, even if it gave him far too much time to wonder whether Danny was pushing him into someone else’s bed to move them past what happened, or if what happened was just because Danny felt sorry for Steve for being alone.

He wasn’t about to ask.

***

_  
Steve woke up slowly, smelling Danny before he could even feel him. He’d never forget that smell, or the way Danny radiated heat like the sun, or how soft the hair was that covered his body, and yet it was nothing compared to the softness of the hair on Danny’s head as it slipped through Steve’s fingers._

_“Mmm,” Danny said, leaning into Steve’s touch. “You keep petting me like that and I’m going to be expecting a bowl of cream. Or maybe some tuna.”_

_Steve laughed softly, running his hand down Danny’s abdomen. “You’re not a cat,” Steve said. “Well...a lion, maybe.”_

_“Well thank you very much for that confidence boost, babe,” Danny said, turning onto his side and meeting Steve’s eyes. “But I need you to do something for me, okay?”_

_“Anything.”_

_“Focus, Steve. Pay attention. Don’t lose yourself. Remember the mission. And snap out of it.”_

__

Steve came around to the unnatural silence of the cocoon. He’d drifted off into his own head, exactly what they wanted. If he forgot where he was, what he was there for, they might get what they need.

He wasn’t about to give Greer and her buddies the satisfaction.

He concentrated, focusing on directing his own thoughts and memories, and avoiding letting himself drift.

***  
_  
“Uncle Steve!”_

_Steve bent down just enough to catch Charlie as he launched himself into Steve’s arms. Over Charlie’s shoulder, Grace was heading his way, Danny close behind as he rounded the Camaro._

_Charlie was a warm, solid weight in Steve’s arms. He smelled like soda, which, judging by the slightly sticky feel of his hands on Steve’s back, was probably spilled in the car._

_He put Charlie down and pulled Grace into a hug, smelling the strawberry and coconut of her shampoo. An odd combination, but one that was always unique to Grace._

_“The barbeque is just starting to warm up,” Steve said to the kids. “If you hurry you’ll have time for a swim.”_

_They ran into the house, leaving Steve alone with Danny. “Hey,” Danny said, as he reached Steve. “What are you doing?”_

_“Huh?” Steve asked, momentarily mesmerized by how brightly blue Danny’s eyes were in the sun. “I’m standing here with you.”_

_“No, you’re not,” Danny said. “You’re in the cocoon, Steve. Focus. We need you back in one piece--mentally as well as physically.”_

__

Just like that, the dark silence was back again, a never ending void with no sound but the beat of his own heart, and no smell other than the faint tinge of fear that he knew he couldn’t smell, but there it seemed to be all the same.

Still, he could manage. Danny was counting on it.

***

__

_Steve coughed, waving his hand to try to get some of the smoke and dust to go away. It wasn’t the first time a building had fallen down around his and Danny’s heads, but at least this time Danny didn’t have a huge piece of rebar sticking out of him, so that was a step up._

_“I think there’s some light up there,” Steve said, pointing ahead, his raspy voice sounding as scratchy as it felt._

_Danny’s hand, warm and instantly comforting on Steve’s arm stopped Steve before he could go any further and forced him to turn around. “Hey,” Danny said, his hand on Steve’s cheek, making the dirt and dust scrap Steve’s skin a little, but it was worth it. “What did I tell you?” Danny said, searching Steve’s eyes._

_“Not to blow anything up?”_

_“No, Steve, think. What do I keep telling you?”_

_“That I’m going to get you killed?”_

_Danny’s hand pulled away and landed a little harder, not a lot of force behind the slap, but enough that Steve’s cheek stung. “What was that for?” Steve asked._

_“You’re not here, Steve. You’re still in that damn tank. Focus, dammit. I’m not losing you.”_

__

The black silence returned, but Steve didn’t want it. He would go crazy if he kept staring into it. He had to lose himself just enough to survive, without losing himself completely. 

As long as he kept losing himself in dreams of Danny, he’d be fine.

***

He was drowning, and there was nothing he would be able to do about it. He couldn’t get free, and Danny wasn’t going to--

A loud crack sounded above the water, and suddenly Steve was free. He struggled to the surface, and there was Danny, pulling him to safety, as always. 

But it wasn’t real. None of it--his success in planting false intel, his escape attempt, it was all just another hallucination.

“Hey, you okay?”

Danny’s hands were on Steve’s knees, which...hurt. His knees hurt. In fact, his whole body felt like he’d been hit by a truck. 

Pain was the one thing his hallucinations had lacked. 

Danny’s fingers were gentle on Steve’s chin, but it still made the bruise there hurt. “Look at me,” Danny said. “Look at me. You all right?”

He was real. The mission had been a success, and Danny was there, not a hallucination. Real.

“What’s my name, huh?” Danny asked.

A ridiculous question that didn’t make any sense--someone could throw Steve’s damn brain in a blender he’d still know Danny anywhere. 

“What’s my name?”

Right. He was waiting for an answer. “Danny,” Steve said, his throat killing him just to get the word out. 

But pain was real, and he’d embrace it, as always.

“Good,” Danny said. “How long have we known each other?”

 _Forever._ It wasn’t true, but it felt like it was. “Fifty years.”

“That’s not funny,” Danny said. 

His tone was just right, so Danny, so real, just like the pain. “Feels like fifty years,” Steve said, just to get more of that tone.

“That’s not funny,” Danny said again. “I’m trying to be serious here.”

So was Steve, in a way, but if Danny wasn’t getting that, then all the better. “It’s gonna take more than a little brain scrub to make me forget you, pal. Okay?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Things that Steve didn’t need to be explaining here and now. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Danny said, and God something was clearly wrong with Steve because he loved that tone. “Sarcasm is not ‘nothing.’ It’s actually Greek for ‘tearing flesh.’’’

“Not being sarcastic.”

“You’re not being genuine. You certainly didn’t say it with any sort of affection towards me.”

He had all the affection in the world, but how much affection was something Danny didn’t need to know. “I got an idea,” Steve said. “Why don’t you throw me back in there until I actually do forget you.”

“Why don’t I let you drown next time? How about that?”

God, Steve could survive never seeing Danny naked again, never being pressed skin to skin, as long as he got to keep this. 

Still, he had to make sure Danny knew some of it, at least. “Hey,” he said, waiting until Danny met his eyes before saying, “Thank you.”

Danny didn’t look impressed. “Come on,” Steve said, “I love y--”

The admission was lost under Danny’s, “You’re welcome,” which, by design or by accident, was for the best. 

“You look ridiculous, by the way,” Danny said, bringing things back to normal.

Steve had to agree.

***

The sky was getting light by the time Danny pulled the Camaro up to Steve’s house and killed the engine. “Mind if I crash on your couch?” Danny asked, then yawned. “I think if I try to drive one more mile I’ll end up in the Pacific.”

“I could have driven,” Steve said, as he tried to open the door.

“You can’t even get the door open,” Danny said, reaching across Steve to pull on the handle. 

Steve pushed the door open and put his feet on the ground, but gravity seemed odd now that his adrenaline rush had gone, and his feet were clumsy as he tried to stand. 

“Come on,” Danny said, putting an arm around Steve’s waist that gave him no choice but to leave his arm around Danny’s shoulder. 

Danny unlocked and opened the front door, shepherding Steve inside, pausing only to lock the door before guiding Steve to the stairs. “Come on, let’s get you upstairs and then I’m going to come crash on the couch.”

“You can use the spare room, you know,” Steve said. “You have to be used to the ocean by now.”

“Yeah, fine, spare room,” Danny said. “As soon as you’re in bed.”

If Danny felt any apprehension about being in a room where the two of them had sex days before, he didn’t show it. Then again, Steve was so tired he might have just missed it. 

“You want a shower first?” Danny asked.

Water wasn’t exactly Steve’s favorite thing at the moment, but he was going to have to get past that, because he wasn’t giving up the ocean. Plus, he still smelled like that odd combination of chemicals and water from the tank, and he needed that gone. Now.

“Yeah,” Steve said, swaying a little, but managing to catch himself before he fell. “Yeah, I’ll just take a quick shower and then sleep. The bed in the spare room is made up,” he said as he stumbled off to the shower.

He smelled like his own soap and shampoo when he emerged, towel wrapped around his waist, to find Danny sitting on the bed. “Sorry,” Steve said, scrubbing his hair with a hand towel. “I thought you’d be passed out in the spare room by now.”

“You were a little unsteady and a lot tired,” Danny said. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t hear any loud thuds.” 

Danny’s eyes dropped down to Steve’s chest and lower, before hastily moving back to Steve’s face. “Anyway,” Danny said, standing up, “now that you’re out safely, I’m going to go crash.”

“Night, Danno,” Steve said softly, even though the sun was up.

“Night.”

***

__

_Steve made his way through the ship, rounding corners carefully, but there was no one. No sound, no nothing--it was like a ghost ship. Around the sixth corner, he found the door that led to the tank._

_He opened it carefully, gun first, but all was silent inside. A body lay still in the middle of the tank, bobbing gently with the movement of the water._

_“Danny!” Steve ran to the tank and jumped in, pulling Danny to the side and then out. There was no pulse, and despite the relative warmth of the water, Danny’s skin was cool and rigid._

_“No!”_

__

“Hey, Steve.”

Danny’s voice was faint, but firm, calling Steve out of his nightmare and into the light. “Hey, you with me now?” Danny asked, standing over the bed. 

Steve scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, sorry,” he said, sinking back into his pillow, his muscles even more sore now than when he’d gone to bed. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay,” he said, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed. Something in his tone, in his eyes, seemed like it should make sense, but it took a minute to work out.

He’d known the nightmares were coming and stayed on purpose.

It shouldn’t have made Steve feel safe. And yet….

“You think you can get back to sleep?” Danny asked.

Steve nodded, eyes slipping closed. “Yeah, I think so.” 

The bed moved, and Steve reached out, his hand landing on Danny’s knee. “Can you stay?” Steve asked. “Just for a minute.”

“Yeah,” Danny said, and the bed moved some more, until Danny’s voice came from somewhere near the headboard. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”

Stee listened to the sound of Danny breathing, felt the warmth beside him, and that unmistakable scent, before he fell asleep.

***

The sun was on its way to the ocean by the time Steve woke without a nightmare. Danny was sitting on top of the covers, propped up by a pillow against the headboard. 

The position looked uncomfortable, but Danny didn’t seem to mind. He was fast asleep, mouth hanging open just enough for Steve to get a hint of pink tongue inside. 

He had to be exhausted. There’d been two more nightmares, and Danny had been right there for them, coaxing Steve back to sleep quickly. 

He was so tempting in the morning, soft and rumpled, his hair a mess. Steve knew what it felt like to run his hands through that hair, to press himself hard against that body….

Way too tempting. 

Steve got up, much more steady than he had been before. He went downstairs in search of coffee and food. 

As expected, Danny appeared within two minutes of the coffee maker starting up. “Hey,” Steve said, taking in the rumpled clothes and mussed hair, so reminiscent of the night they’d slept together that it left an ache somewhere inside. 

“Hey,” Danny said, heading for the coffee. He grabbed a mug and pulled the pot out, letting the coffee drip straight into the mug as he filled it from the pot at the same time. 

When it was full, he put the pot back, added an ice cube from the freezer, then took a long drink. 

“Better now?” Steve asked, not bothering to hid his amusement. 

“Yes.”

“Good.” Steve cleared his throat. “Danny...thanks.”

Danny raised his eyebrows as he took a drink. “For what?”

“Being here last night. It...it helped.”

“You’re welcome,” Danny said, something a lot like fear in his eyes. Then the realization hit out of nowhere--Billy Selway. 

Maybe Steve wasn’t the only one who needed to be close by last night. You see your best friend drown as a kid, you’re not going to easily get over seeing your best friend almost drowned as an adult.

“Are you okay?” Danny asked.

Steve gave the question the consideration it deserved. “I will be,” he said, turning to the fridge. “You want something to eat?”

“Sure.” 

***


	2. Chapter 2

_  
Steve’s mouth was gorgeous, like the rest of him, but if Danny had known all the talent Steve had in there, he might not have waited so long to have this._

_Danny tried to push up, tried to get deeper, but Steve had him pinned down firmly enough that the best Danny could manage was small, short thrusts. It just prolonged things, though, pushing higher and higher, secure in the knowledge that Steve had him, that he would make it good, that--  
_

Danny jerked awake, the sheet prickly against his overheated skin. He shoved the sheet off with his feet, hand already on his dick, finishing the job that Steve had started in Danny’s dream.

He lay on his back when he was done, focusing on breathing, torn between calling Steve and yelling at him, or going over there and crawling into Steve’s bed. 

It wasn’t the first morning he’d woken up like this, and it sure as hell wasn’t the first time he’d been trapped between screaming and fucking when it came to Steve McGarrett.

But only recently did he have real world experience to lend a new authenticity to the latter. 

Of course, he could have been having regular real world experience since then, if only Steve wasn’t such an ass. But Steve had brushed it off as nothing, and seemed to have forgotten it even happened.

Well, almost. Their relationship hadn’t changed, but that included that undercurrent of something that had always been there, undefined and misunderstood, first as a mild sort of loathing, then as something like brotherhood, before Danny had finally figured it out.

Unable to resist testing a theory, especially when his brain had vacated his head for parts further south, Danny had finally--with the help of a few beers--made his move. It had been gloriously returned. And then unceremoniously brushed aside like it was no big deal hours later. Hours. 

Apparently even Greer had lasted longer than Danny.

The obnoxious buzzing that usually interrupted his sleep started. Danny slammed the alarm off button a little harder than necessary and rolled out of bed to shower and face another bright sunny day in Hawaii.

***

Danny was almost to Steve’s house before he remembered that Steve had an early meeting with the Governor. Oh well, Danny could distract himself with some of the really good coffee Steve kept hidden where almost no one could find it. 

He gave a quick courtesy knock before walking into the house, but no Eddie came running to meet him, which meant Junior must have the dog outside. The relative darkness of the house made it easy to see the light beyond, but it took a moment for his eyes to adjust, clearly, because it looked like money was floating around outside. 

No, wait. It didn’t look like money. It was money.

***

Danny didn’t say a word when they got in the car. They were well on their way to the airport before Steve took a deep breath and said, “Look, I’m sorry, all right?”

“What was that?” Danny’s tone indicated Steve would have to spend at least three minutes groveling before he was forgiven. 

“I said I’m sorry. You know, about the money.”

“I heard you,” Danny said. “It’s just that those words so rarely come out of your mouth that I like to ask two or three times to hear them again. Store it up, you know, for all those times you refuse to say them.”

Steve checked his watch--maybe two minutes left. Unless he could speed it up. “I’m sorry,” Steve said again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry--there, is that enough?”

Danny’s look was eloquent, as always, but he put it into words, too, as if Steve had suddenly lost the Danny faces translator embedded in his brain. “Not when you say it like that.” Danny shifted in his seat to let Steve get the full impact of his hand waving. “That was so very clearly insincere, Steven.”

“You said you wanted some to save up.” Steve shrugged as he turned onto Nimitz. “I’m just putting a few in the bank.”

“No, no,” Danny said, hands flying through the air. “Putting things in the bank requires you to put real things in the bank.”

Steve frowned at him. “Excuse me?”

“You have to put gold in the bank,” Danny said. “You, my friend, are just banking Leprechaun gold.”

“I’m sorry, wha--Leprechaun gold?”

“Yes, Leprechaun gold.” Danny turned even more to the side, until Steve was worried the seat belt might actually break. “It’s all nice and shiny at first and then a few hours later it disappears and you realize it was never real in the first place.” 

Steve blinked at him a few times between checking the road in front of them. “Leprechaun gold?” he said finally.

“I read Harry Potter to Grace a lot when she was a kid,” Danny grumbled, shifting violently so that his back was pressed against the seat once more. “It stuck, okay?” 

He looked out the window, arms folded over his chest, Steve’s three minutes of groveling clearly about to jump up to an hour. “Danny,” Steve said carefully, “I am sorry. I swear.”

Danny sagged into the seat a little, all the tension instantly gone. “Hey, I agreed to the plan,” Danny said. “It’s not like I couldn’t have stopped you from burying the money in the backyard, but I just let you go on with the stupid idea.”

 _I could have stopped you._ How many times had he heard those words from Danny over the years, heard the way ‘could’ really meant ‘should’? But Danny almost never stopped him. He let Steve go out and do some admittedly crazy things, and not always with the best results. And yet he let him do it again and again. 

That Steve had tempered his crazier instincts was largely down to Danny’s sound arguments finally sinking in, combined with some of the ramifications of his actions over the years. Even if Danny wasn’t with him, the little Danny voice in the back of Steve’s head was always there, arguing the negative side of any action like a pro. It was the reason Steve was a better cop now. 

And probably the reason why he was still alive.

Steve turned at the sign for the airport, shooting glances at Danny without saying another word.

***

They weren’t even onto the main road when Danny asked, “So what are you thinking?” 

“What?”

“What is it we don’t know about Teague?”

Steve shrugged. “If there’s stuff we don’t know about him, it’s well hidden. Which means either he’s clean, or he’s very good.”

Danny’s phone rang, the screen showing Grace’s face for a second before Danny answered. His voice when he talked with her was the same as always, that affection that had made Steve sit up and take notice all those years ago still so warm and endearing. 

That warmth had had its own influence on Steve’s life, just as Danny’s rules had. There was no way to repay Danny for everything Steve owed him. Not just Steve’s safety, but his sanity--’relative’ sanity, his inner Danny voice sniped. Even 5-0 itself, and all the people they’d managed to save, owed that in large part to Danny. 

Steve might be the team leader, but Danny was the thing that kept it all from blowing up in their faces--one little temporary disbandment for supposedly murdering the governor aside. 

Which was a fine example of how things went to hell when he didn’t listen to Danny.

Because Danny needed rules in the same way Steve needed to break them. Together, they shored up each other’s weaknesses and accomplished the impossible. 

But would Junior and Tani find that balance? Neither of them had that respect for the rules that had kept Danny from going over the line--Reyes didn’t count, even if Danny thought he did. Junior had the SEAL mentality of doing whatever it takes to get the job done. Tani had good instincts, but she was a little too much like Steve in some ways. 

They needed a steadying influence, which was why he paired them up with Grover frequently. He’d paired them with Danny less out of sheer preference. He liked being in the field with Danny. Even with his inner Danny voice to stop him going too far, it wasn't as good as having the real thing there by his side, working in perfect synchronization. 

But Junior and Tani deserved the chance to learn those things from Danny as well. And Danny would always fight Steve tooth and nail when they were alone, but not in front of the kids. Even this morning, with one joke from Junior about ‘Mom and Dad’ fighting Danny dropped his rather deserved anger--though Steve would never put it that way to him--without a second thought. 

So Junior and Tani needed to work with Danny, and they needed to do it soon. Danny’s 20th year on the force was almost here, and he’d made it more than clear he wasn’t sticking it out much further. The restaurant would be ready soon and they’d have to choose. Danny would chose his kids and relative safety. 

And Steve would choose Danny.

Which made their ill advised one-night stand even worse, in hindsight. They weren’t ready for that--though Steve knew that time would come. He’d had too many close brushes with death to be anything less than honest with himself, which meant admitting that he and Danny and a lot of sex were inevitable.

But not yet. They needed to get to a different place in their lives. Then they’d be ready. 

In the meantime, they had to prepare their new team for the future.

***

The helicopter was weird.

Not the helicopter itself--Danny had, sadly, spent far too much time in helicopters the last nine years to find it weird. 

But almost never without Steve.

_Somebody’s gotta stay back here and dig into Teague, right?_

Yeah, because Jerry and Lou couldn’t handle that alone. And Steve always passed up a chance to gear up, jump from a helicopter, and go running after someone in the jungle. He’d much rather be in the office. 

Not.

Clearly something was wrong.

Had the little brainwashing session had more effect than Steve had let on? He hadn’t mentioned any nightmares since that first night, when Danny had witnessed all of them--including the one where he had been the one floating dead in the water, an admission he was almost sure he’d never gotten out of Steve had he not just woken up from it. 

But Steve wouldn’t mention them, not now, not unless Danny really pushed the issue. 

If it wasn’t the brainwashing, then that left the other obvious question. Was Steve pushing Danny away because they’d slept together? Things hadn’t been awkward. They’d had just as much personal space between each other as always--which was not much. Steve hadn’t seemed to mind--even if Danny sometimes found it hard not to jump the guy, especially after dreams like he’d had that morning. 

But Steve was giving up one of the things he probably considered a perk of the job to send Danny out into the jungle with the kids. Danny, the man who preferred concrete and asphalt to flora and fauna any day of the week and twice on Saturdays. 

Something didn’t add up. 

Then again, Steve hadn’t wanted to swim to out to the Arcturus either. ‘Younger’ Steve would have done it, he’d said. Well, that much was true. 

Never mind that ‘younger Steve’ as in ‘last month Steve’ would’ve done it. 

So what had changed? Had Steve heard something new from his doctors? Was there some downturn in his health that he wasn’t sharing? What was so wrong that would keep Steve from jumping into the jungle like Rambo? 

“We’re at the drop zone,” the pilot said through the radio.

Danny put the Steve puzzle aside for later and checked his gear as the helicopter descended.

***

Danny didn’t bother to knock on Steve’s door. He knew Steve wasn’t home from delivering Greer to hopefully be thrown into a hole yet, and Junior might be outside, so what was the point?

Eddie came running to greet Danny as he closed the door, excited and, thankfully, not digging anything else up, at least not that Danny could see. The faint sound of running water was just audible from the bathroom near Junior’s room, so Danny sat down on the couch, letting Eddie jump up beside him for some lap time. 

A moment later, Junior came running down the stairs. “Hey,” he said. “Steve’s not back yet.”

“Yeah, I figured I’d just wait. I want to see how it went with Greer.”

Junior looked like he had some thoughts about that, but as usual, he stayed silent. “Tani called. We’re gonna grab some dinner, but we could wait if you guys want to come with us.”

“No, go on,” Danny said. “No telling how long Steve’s going to be.” _Or what kind of mood he’s going to be in when he gets back._

“Okay. Later.” 

He ran out, the sheer amount of energy on display after the day they’d had making Danny a little jealous, and a little bitter. “When did I get old, huh, Eddie?” he asked the dog. 

Eddie just plopped his head more firmly on Danny’s thigh and looked up reproachfully at the hand of Danny’s that wasn’t already petting the dog.

“You’re as bad as your owner,” Danny said, scratching Eddie’s ears with both hands. “Not happy unless you’re the center of attention.” At least where Danny was concerned.

Which led again to the question of why Steve hadn’t gone into the jungle with them. Danny had believed Steve’s explanation. He just hadn’t believed that was all there was to it. 

Clearly asking wasn’t going to get him the answers he needed, so he’d just have to do some detective work. 

Steve’s truck rumbled to a stop in front of the house. A moment later, Steve walked in, a smile aimed at the couch like he’d known exactly where Danny would be. 

The smile stopped at the edges of his mouth, however. His eyes just looked tired.

“Was that Junior heading out?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah, he and Tani are getting dinner,” Danny said. “How’d it go with the handoff?”

Steve closed the door, sagging into it just a little. “How about I tell you over dinner and alcohol?”

Sure, dinner and alcohol. Because that wasn’t at all a dangerous proposition in Steve’s house. Alone. 

At least Junior would be back at some time. That should at least keep Danny from jumping Steve again. 

“Sure,” Danny said. “Sounds good.”

***

Over ahi, grilled vegetables, and liberal amounts of Longboard, Steve recounted the drive out to Kalaeloa. “It wasn’t until we got there, though,” he stopped for another drink, “that she really said anything interesting.” 

“What was that?”

“She brought up Marrakesh,” Steve said, looking out at the water.

Danny took a sip of the beer he’d been nursing through dinner. “Why do you think she brought it up?” he asked. “Did she really think the whole ‘hey, we slept together once’--oh, no, I’m sorry, more than once--” he added, because he wasn’t quite done with that one, “‘so maybe you could just get me out of this pesky treason charge’ thing would work?”

“It wasn’t that.” Steve met Danny’s eyes again. “She was talking about the mission we were on there.”

Danny put his bottle down and leaned forward. “What was--never mind, I know that face,” Danny said, sitting back again. “Classified, right?” 

A hint of a smile crossed Steve’s face briefly. “Right. Not that classified matters to her anymore.”

“It’s not like she can use it to worm her way of out jail,” Danny said. “The government already knows whatever classified thing you did there.”

“ _Our_ government, yeah,” Steve said, pausing for long drink. 

Before he could finish the thought, Danny finished it for him. “But not whatever government you were there working against.”

Steve raised his eyebrows as he took another drink. 

“She’s going down into some hole where she can’t communicate with anyone, though, right? How’s she gonna tell them?”

“There are ways.”

He was already wearing his stoic ‘I will fight whatever battle lands at my door’ face, as if he half suspected Greer had already outed him to whatever regime he’d offended. “Well, if that happens, Danny said, leaning forward again, “we’ll be ready.”

“Yeah.” Steve drained the last of his bottle and got up, taking his plate into the kitchen. Danny followed close behind with his plate, wondering, not for the first time, how a soldier was supposed to go out and do his job knowing that it could come back to bite him in the ass years later.

Then again, cops ran the same risk, as Danny and his family were all too aware. 

Danny put his dish in the sink and turned around, only to run smack into Steve. It was so eerily similar to that night they’d ended up in bed that it took a second for it to register that Steve’s magnificent hip bones were actually under Danny’s thumbs again. 

It felt every bit as amazing as before, surprisingly soft skin over the hard line of bone, the hint of hairs tickling Danny’s thumbs when they delved a little lower. It brought back far too many other memories of that night that Danny had been doing his best to not to think about. 

It would be so easy to lean in again, to take what he wanted. Steve would let him--hell, for all Danny knew Steve had waited there for Danny to turn around, looking for something to take his mind off the situation with Greer. The invitation was right there in Steve’s eyes, dark and searching on Danny’s face, in the way his breath changed, in the sudden increase in heat coming off Steve’s skin.

As Steve had recently pointed out, Danny was a very good detective.

He was also not doing this again, not without more certainty as to what he was getting into. This wasn’t something--no, _they_ weren’t something casual that could just be tossed aside. This was the long game, and Steve had to be ready. 

Danny could wait for that.

“I should go,” Danny said, his voice husky. He had to tamp down the lust that coiled in his gut when Steve’s eyes flared. Yeah, okay, so maybe the words sounded a little like he was halfway into bed already, but he was only human, and this was...this was a lot. 

“Danny….” 

“I have to pick up Grace and Charlie in the morning for school,” Danny said, side stepping out of the way, instantly missing the heat and the smell of Steve so close. “I’ll pick you up after.”

He left without looking back.

***


	3. Chapter 3

The rain stopped as quickly as it had started, leaving their clothes soaking wet, but only slightly alleviating the heat. "Come on," Steve said, tapping Danny on the arm. "It's cooled down just enough that it'll be cooler at my place now."

"Yeah right." 

"If it's not, there's an ocean behind it." 

Which involved the two of them without a lot of clothing, but it would be cooler. And Junior would be home before things could go anywhere. What harm could there be?

"Okay." Danny waved to the others, as he fell into step behind Steve.

***

"I thought you said it would be cooler," Danny said. 

Steve rolled his eyes before he turned around to face Danny. "Trust me, this is cooler," he said, leaving the door open, but securing the screen door. 

"Than what? Hell?"

"Than it was before the rain." It was a bit stuffy, but that would fade quickly. "Just let me open the back screen windows and it'll cool off quickly." 

"Let's hope so."

Steve paused on his way into the dining room, glancing over his shoulder. "Let's go for a swim while the house cools off, yeah?" He nodded toward the garage. "Your boardies are on the dryer. Go change."

Danny froze for a second, but the look on his face didn't have time to make it through the Danny translator before he turned toward the garage without a word.

***

By the time Steve had gone upstairs and changed, Danny was already wading in the edge of the ocean. He looked...well, the English language didn't have the words to say how he looked. Mouthwatering fell short. Gorgeous didn't come close. 

Steve ran down to the water before his dick gave him away, diving into the surf as soon as he was far enough not to end up on sand. He swam about 50 yards before turning around to see Danny waist deep and watching. 

There was that look again, obvious even from a distance. Steve squinted, but it disappeared as quickly as before. "Are you gonna stay in the kiddie pool?" Steve teased.

That look was easier to translate--Danny was nothing if not competitive. He flashed a grin before he dove into the water, heading straight for Steve.

When he was close, Steve turned and swam another fifty yards and stopped. Danny made it to Steve's side in a matter of seconds. .

"Not bad," Steve said, kicking his feet to stay afloat.

"Yeah, well, you don't have to go to SEAL school to be able to swim."

Steve tilted his head, as if a different angle would make sense of that look that passed over Danny's face again. "What happened to the guy who could swim, but chose not to?"

Danny's eyes were somewhere around Steve's shoulder for a moment before he met Steve's gaze. "A lot of things have changed since I moved here," Danny said, before flipping over and swimming toward the shore. "Winner has to make dinner," he called over his shoulder.

Steve dove in after him. 

He overtook Danny about ten yards from the shore. It meant having to cook, but Danny would never let him live down losing a swimming competition. 

Which Danny had probably been counting on. 

It was worth making dinner to watch Danny rise up out of the water, shorts hanging indecently low on his hips. Steve wanted to trace the path of every drop of water that ran down Danny's body, one at a time, until all the salt was gone and only Steve's claim remained.

One life hurdle at a time. There would be a time and place. 

Just not today. 

"So," Danny said, wearing his most shit-eating grin, the one that did things to Steve's stomach that hinted Danny might be right about Steve's insanity. "What's for dinner?"

"Well I'm not firing up the grill in this heat," Steve said, even though the breeze had picked up and it was cooling down. "So I hope you like sandwiches." 

"I was raised on delis," Danny said. "It'll be almost like being home."

The words left a strange taste in Steve's mouth as he turned to go into the kitchen.

***

"Well," Danny said, polishing off the last of his sandwich, "it's not exactly Hobby's Deli, but not bad, for a Hawaiian."

Steve's eyeroll was stupidly attractive, but Danny manfully ignored it. "Hawaiians know how to make sandwiches," Steve said. 

"Sure, with things like spam and seaweed and rice," Danny said. He popped some chips in his mouth that he'd have sworn before now Steve would never consider healthy enough to have in his house. "But a club sandwich like this? I haven't had one since I got to this place." 

Steve ducked his head at the compliment, which was also stupidly attractive, and yeah, maybe Danny should have stopped after his third beer. The combination of water between each beer and another swim should've offset the effects, but as he sipped at the fourth one, maybe not.

Then again, maybe Steve just made him feel slightly drunk.

Dangerous thoughts. He shoved them into the corner of his mind and focused on his beer, but Steve's bare chest was right behind the beer and infinitely more interesting. Why did he have to be so freakishly hot?

Maybe Ma was right when he was a kid. If he'd been a little more remorseful growing up, maybe the universe wouldn't be torturing him now.

"You want some?" Steve asked.

Danny swallowed, staring at Steve's collarbones, because they would look amazing with hickeys on them, and hell yes he wanted some. Not just some, he wanted all of it. 

"Danny?" 

He ripped his eyes up to Steve's face. "Huh?"

Steve held out a bowl with mac salad in it. "You want some?"

"Oh, um. Sure." 

Maybe if he ate the salad he could keep his mind off all the other things he'd like to be doing with his mouth.

***

The moon was getting comfortable in the sky when Danny reached the end of his fifth beer. The pleasant warmth from the top of his head to his fingertips meant he wouldn't be driving for a good while.

The way he couldn't keep his eyes off Steve's chest meant that was dangerous. 

But Junior would be home soon, which would keep the danger at bay--at least as much as anything would. 

Steve's phone buzzed, vibrating the table. Steve picked it up, glanced at the screen, and put it up to his ear. "Junior, what's up?" 

Steve wet his lips as he listened, forcing Danny to miss the end of the conversation. He only realized it was over when Steve put the phone back down. "Junior's staying on Tani's couch," Steve said. "Apparently her AC is back on."

"On her couch?" Danny raised an eyebrow, because blind men could see that Junior would be just as likely to take an invite into Tani's bed, and the way Tani had been looking at Junior, he might have a decent shot at that invite. 

Steve shrugged, looking at his Longboard as he said, "It is possible to be partners and not jump each other," in the most casual tone he could fake. 

Possible, sure, for most people. 

Others had to work at it.

"Okay," Danny said, "I should probably head home."

"On that many beers?" 

Shit. "I'll call an uber." 

"News said the average wait time for rideshare is 2-3 hours right now."

Double shit. "Oh."

"Stay," Steve said. "You've got clothes in the spare room." 

Like it was just that easy. Staying was not a road to sanity. Staying was the furthest thing from it. Five beers had also been on that road, but at the time he'd thought he'd have Junior as a buffer. 

Still. Steve was right. It was possible to be partners and not jump each other. 

"Sure. Thanks."

It was totally possible not to jump each other.

Probable was a completely different story.

***

Steve was just putting the last clean dish back in the cabinet when the pipes from the bathroom over the kitchen creaked to life. He closed his eyes, but that only made the image of Danny, naked and gorgeous, stepping into the shower right over his head, stronger

Don't think about it. 

Right, like that was going to work. Maybe he should take a cold shower himself. 

He switched off the kitchen light and made sure the doors and windows were secure before turning off the lamp in the living room and going upstairs. The shower was still running, and the images were still stuck in Steve's head, no matter how much he tried to get rid of them. 

He hurried into his room, closing the bedroom door, then the bathroom door for good measure. He dropped his clothes in the corner and stepped into the shower, turning the water on cold and diving in head first, hoping it would quell the eager erection he couldn't seem to stop.

Except the two showers shared a wall, and he could hear Danny right on the other side of the shower head, feet squeaking on the shower floor, random breaks in the patter of water telling Steve exactly when Danny was standing under the spray.

Danny made a noise that no cold water could possibly stop Steve's reaction to, somewhere between a grunt and a moan. He could've banged his knee on the wall, he could've been sore from the swim and his muscle protested. Maybe that was all the noise was.

There was another sound, and no, that was absolutely not a pulled muscle. 

Fuck.

Steve warmed the water up and braced his forearm on the wall, just the knowledge that Danny was inches away on the other side, probably doing the same thing, enough to have him almost all the way gone already.

He came embarrassingly fast and then slumped forward, his forehead resting on the arm that held him up. Next door the faucet squeaked, and the water stopped. A second later, Steve's shower got warmer, and he cleaned himself up quickly before turning off the water. 

Well, on the bright side, they hadn't jumped each other.

He'd take whatever victories he could get.

***


	4. Chapter 4

The pasta was almost done when Danny heard the front door open. Barking followed almost immediately, as if he hadn't known by the way Steve had just walked in without knocking who it was. 

Danny covered the pot before heading into the living room. Eddie bounded over to Danny to say hello as Steve came around and made himself at home on the couch. 

"Please," Danny said, "come in. Have a seat."

"Thanks."

Really, it was unfair for smug to look that sexy. "To what do we owe the honor of your presence?" 

Steve almost met Danny's eyes. "Eddie wanted to come see the kids."

Right. And Steve had telepathically known that. Sure. "Well, Grace is finishing her homework, and Charlie is washing up for dinner, so they should both be out in a minute." Danny knelt down to give Eddie some extra love. "You guys can join us if you want," he said. "I'm trying out a variation on carbonara using bucatini. Might set us apart at the restaurant.

"Sure," Steve said. "Thanks."

His look of something close to relief was not the typical reaction to a dinner invite. Something else was up, but to push or not to push, that was always the question with Steve McGarrett.

Then again, Danny never was very good at not pushing.

"So what gives?" he asked, watching Steve closely.

Steve shrugged, picking at a fraying spot around the knee of his jeans. "Nothing, why?"

Yeah, right. 

Danny raised an eyebrow, which Steve met with a blank look. "Oh, so, Duke came by a little bit ago," Steve said after a moment, his tone perfectly casual. A little too perfect. "He's changed his mind. He's going to go through with the hearing." 

"And how hard did you railroad him into that?" 

Steve held up both hands. "It wasn't me. He did it for Akela. He realized his legacy was more than just himself," Steve said, as if he was still fully processing the words. "That it would be her roadmap after he was gone. So he wants to clear his name." 

"And if he wants to retire after that?" 

"Then I'll be there to applaud his retirement party." 

The words were sincere, and something in Danny relaxed just a little. "So you going to his hearing?" Danny asked.

Steve nodded. "You want to come?" he asked, as he snapped at Eddie to come over to the couch, as if the answer didn't matter.

As if that wasn't the main reason for his visit. 

"Yeah," Danny said. "Yeah, it'll be good to support him."

Steve nodded again, glancing up at Danny. "He can use the support."

It wasn't like Steve to be that nervous about asking Danny to do something, especially something Danny was happy to do anyway. Of course, maybe he hadn't been entirely clear about that, but he'd been more interested in Steve's motives for trying to push Duke into staying with HPD than in Steve actually pushing him in the first place. Duke had long since earned his retirement, and if he couldn't resist Steve's arguments against retirement, then what chance did Danny have? 

He'd be a cop until he was ancient or dead. 

But then Steve didn't give up easily, so maybe that's what he wanted. For Danny to just go on fighting by his side for decades to come, when there were excellent rules and regulations against anything else happening between them. And all the full immunity and means in the world didn't change the fact that there were very good reasons for those rules and regulations. 

Maybe they'd dodged a bullet by not sleeping together again. Maybe Steve had been the cautious one--and that was a scary concept--by putting a stop to it before it really got started. If he's not ready to retire and he's bound and determined to keep Danny with him, then anything between them was going to have to wait. 

Or maybe just not happen at all. 

Maybe getting out of it before he was too deeply in it was for the best.

Charlie came racing into the room, shouting, "Uncle Steve!" He jumped onto the couch to give Steve a hug before coercing Eddie to join them. 

"Guess what happened today?" Charlie said.

Steve frowned. "You learned how to drive a car."

Charlie laughed. "No, I'm too short. I can't see over the steering wheel." 

As Charlie launched into a story that was, frankly, a little too over the top to be entirely true, Steve listened with rapt attention, as if Charlie's story held key information to uncover a plot to blow up the island. The naked affection on Steve's face had Danny turning away toward the kitchen to check the pasta.

Yeah, he hadn't dodged a damn thing. 

All the warnings his mother had given him as a kid about heartbreakers--and even as an adult, when it came to Rachel--made a lot more sense than they had in ages. 

Too bad she'd never bothered to warn him that heartbreakers also came in the form of six foot plus, BAMF Navy SEALs with hearts made of mush.

***


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey," Steve said over Molly's head, eyes meeting Tani's. "Mrs. Kanaka is here."

Mrs. Kanaka, a social worker 5-0 had worked with more than Steve would really have liked--she was nice enough, but the number of times their job involved kids was too many for his taste--approached Molly. Kanaka was a kind-faced woman with a messy bun, about as unmenancing as you could get, but Molly still shrank back toward Tani.

"It's okay," Tani patted Molly's hand. "Mrs. Kanaka and I go way back. She'll take good care of you, and bring you straight back tomorrow."

Molly walked out with the social worker, with just one more look over her shoulder at Tani. "Poor kid," Tani said, eyes on the closing elevator. "She should be out Trick or Treating, and instead she's in for a lifetime of nightmares the rest of us can only hope we never have to live."

It was the part of the job that never got easier to handle. The grim satisfaction of stopping it before it got any worse made it easier to live with, but it still got you every time. "You did good," Steve said, giving Tani a squeeze on the shoulder. 

"Thanks." She was still looking at the elevator.

"Speaking of Trick or Treating," Steve said, "I gotta go. I told Danny I'd hand candy out at his house while he took Charlie out."

"Where's Grace?"

"First official Halloween party as a teenager."

Tani raised an eyebrow. "Official?"

"Yeah, well, she sort of lied and went to one a couple years ago, and it did not go well. And if I don't get to Danny's soon, he might be tempted to track her phone and go after her, so…."

"Go," Tani said, giving him a push. "For the love of God, go, before he traumatizes his kids."

Steve laughed as he headed for the elevator.

***

Steve wasn't exactly stingy with the candy, and the bowl was low by the time Danny and Charlie came back in. "How'd you do, buddy?" Steve asked Charlie.

"Great!" Charlie held up his bucket, which was over half full with candy. He reached into the bucket, but Danny took it out of his hand. "Not yet," he said. "Here."

Danny opened a cabinet and pulled out a bowl full of the same candy Steve had been handing out. "Eat some of this. We'll have yours checked in the morning and then you can have some." 

Charlie dug into the bowl without question. The only thing surprising about any of it was that Steve hadn't seen it coming. 

Danny Williams, Over-Protective Father of the Year.

Charlie ate candy as he told Steve an elaborate backstory he'd created to go with his pirate costume. He was halfway through describing the decorations at every house he visited before Danny took the bowl away. "Time to shower and brush that sugar off your teeth and get ready for bed," Danny said. 

"Danno…."

"Don't 'Danno' me, or I'll eat all your candy before you wake up. Go." 

Charlie's eyes widened comically as he jumped up and ran down the hall.

"Would you really eat all his candy?" Steve asked.

"Nah, I've used that threat for years, first with Grace, then with him, and they've never once tested me."

What would it be like to have so much faith in your father that you didn't question what he said? Steve must have been the same as a kid, but damn if he could remember a time like that. 

"What's that face?" Danny asked, as he sat down at the other end of the couch." 

"Nothing," Steve said. 

"I saw an alert on my phone you caught your guy." 

Steve nodded. "Not one of our less disturbing cases." 

"Don't tell me you found other partly assembled women."

Steve shivered--like he needed that reminder on Halloween. "No, but...he was using a little girl to catch his victims off guard and drug them." Steve cleared his throat, picturing Molly again. "Not just any little girl, either. His own daughter."

"Damn," Danny said softly.

"Yeah." Steve dusted an invisible piece of lint off his pants."So what time did you tell Grace to be home? 9:30?" Steve teased. 

"Haha." Danny said. "The party's supposed to end at 11, so I told her to be home by 11:30."

Steve nodded. "And you've tracked her phone how many times?"

"Are you insinuating I don't trust my daughter?" At Steve's look, Danny said, "Okay, fine, only twice, just to make sure she is where she said she'd be. And it's not that I don't trust her--it's the million or so creeps out there who might do something to her I don't trust."

As Steve agreed with that, he didn't argue. "She'll be fine," he said instead, because if he didn't, Danny might decide to go check on her.

And Steve might have trouble coming up with a reason not to go.

"Yeah, it's just...yesterday she wouldn't cross the street to Trick or Treat without holding my hand, and tomorrow she's going to be going to college God knows where, living on her own."

"Not tomorrow."

"Close enough." Danny shook his head. "You have no idea how fast it goes."

Except he did. He'd known Grace for over half her life, and in some ways it seemed like she'd been eight only yesterday. The thought of her going off to college was painful--almost as painful as what it would do to Danny if she decided to go to school on the mainland.

What if he decided to follow? 

He wouldn't, though. They had the restaurant--he wouldn't just give that up. Oahu was his home--he'd made that clear in more ways than one.

Except Jersey was his home, too.

"Okay, seriously, what's with the face?" Danny said.

"Just thinking about Grace going off to college." Which was partly true. "She say where she was considering?"

"Everywhere." Danny reached for the remote on the coffee table and switched on the TV as he said, "I selfishly hope she stays here--not just for the fact that she'd be close, but in state tuition makes a big difference."

The Food Network was running a series of Halloween themed shows, judging by the logo in the corner about their Halloween Food Spooktacular. A woman with cat ears and eyes, a nose and whiskers in an unfortunate place on her apron, was stirring batter for what was apparently destined to be ghost cake, if the ghost-shaped pan was any indication.

Charlie came running back into the living room, clearly still feeling his sugar high. He hopped backwards onto the couch, settling between Steve and Danny, rubbing his eyes in a way that meant he would soon be feeling a sugar crash.

"Can I stay up and watch TV?" Charlie asked.

"No," Danny leaned down, nose against Charlie's temple. "You need to go to bed so you can go tell your friends at school all about the house with the spooky witch."

"Can I take my candy to school?"

"We'll put a few pieces in your lunchbox," Danny said. "And by the time you get home, I'll have the stuff from tonight checked out and you can have some more, okay?"

"Okay." 

"Good, then say goodnight to Uncle Steve and get in bed."

Charlie swiveled around to his knees in a move that Steve envied, throwing his arms around Steve's neck with a, "Night, Uncle Steve," against Steve's ear.

Steve gave him a squeeze. "Sleep well."

Charlie gave Danny a hug and said, "Night, Danno," before scrambling down and hurrying down the hall.

Danny watched him run away before he said, "I'd better go make sure he actually gets in bed and turns off the lights, or he'll be up until midnight." He pushed himself off the couch and went down the hall. 

Steve grabbed the remote, flipping through channels, landing on a horror movie that looked vaguely familiar. A few minutes later, Danny came back and dropped onto the couch. 

"Seriously?" Danny said, after a moment. "A horror movie?"

"What? It's Halloween. There's not much else on."

"Right." Danny sounded more amused than annoyed. "You sure it's not just your default because you've been using it on Halloween to get laid for decades?"

Which brought up a lot of things that Steve wasn't sure he was really ready to think about, at least not while he was alone with Danny. Not that they were in danger of doing anything with Charlie down the hall and Grace due home before too much longer.

Unless that was why Danny felt safe teasing him. 

"Aw, Danno, does that mean I'm not getting any tonight?"

Danny shifted, crossing his legs. "That's between you and your left hand, pal."

Steve leaned in. "Between us, I use my right. I can show you why if you'd like."

"Just change the channel," Danny said. 

As his voice sounded slightly strangled, Steve counted it as a win and picked up the remote. He flipped through a few more stations before stopping again, wondering how quickly the movie would rile Danny up.

But Danny said nothing. He just settled into the corner of the couch, watching the movie as if enthralled.

Steve was more enthralled by the way the light of the TV flickered over Danny's face than the movie itself, right up until Danny started softly singing along to one of the songs.

"Okay," Steve said, after a verse, a chorus, and half the next verse. He tossed the remote on the coffee table and turned sideways on the couch to face Danny. "You know all the words to 'Sweet Transvestite.' Explain."

Danny gave him a blank look. "Doesn't everyone?"

"No. No, everyone does not. A lot of people who went to college might know the name of it, but all the words? No."

Danny shrugged, eyes on the TV. "I worked a production in college," he said, his tone way too airy to be the whole story.

"And?"

"And what?" Danny said. 

"And the rest of the story?" 

Danny sighed, rolling his eyes as he turned to almost face Steve. "I was the understudy for Frank, okay?" he said after a moment. "Which meant learning the songs, as well as how to walk in platforms--which, it turns out, despite loving the extra height, I was not good at--ergo 'understudy.'"

The whole world sort of greyed out for a few seconds as Steve's worldview shifted. "You...wait. You understudied that role in college?"

"Yes, and...?"

"How did I not know that?"

A small smile played around Danny's lips. "You mean there was something that wasn't in those transcripts you went behind my back and got?"

"I didn't go behind your back and get anything--they were a requirement for the state task force job," Steve said, leaving out the part where he'd made the requirement. "And there were a lot of things that weren't in your transcripts, apparently." 

Like the list of guys he was sure Danny must have slept with in college, because that night last month was definitely not Danny's first time with a guy, or even his fifth, and Steve would know if Danny had slept with a guy since coming to Hawaii. He'd just know.

Not that he had a list of Danny's one night stands...at least not by name. If he had a general idea...well, it was important to keep up with what his team did. That was all. 

"You mean like the reams of redacted stuff in all your 'classified' files?"

"Right, because the government classified your college career?"

Danny shifted, twisting just a little until their knees were almost touching. He rested his arm on the back of the couch and propped his head against his fist, wearing that smile that always seemed to say he knew everything Steve was thinking. "What's your real problem?"

"What?"

"What's your real issue about my turn as Frank on stage, Steven?' 

His voice was low, and oh yeah, Steve could totally see him playing that part with that voice. "I don't, I mean...wait, you said you were the understudy."

"I did." Danny's smile turned smug. "And the understudy goes on if the lead is sick."

"And the lead?"

"Laryngitis," Danny said, shaking his head. "One whole weekend."

Words. Steve had had words a minute ago.

"You know," Danny said, leaning in, voice a low rumble of a whisper, "I think Ma has some pictures somewhere, actually." 

To hell with words. Steve leaned in, determined to kiss that smile off Danny's lips, to lick into his mouth until he was moaning instead of silently laughing.

He was almost there when keys jangled against the door. Steve sat back quickly, pulling a pillow down over his lap as Grace pushed the door open.   
"Hey, Uncle Steve," she said, smiling like she'd had a great night. 

"Hey, Gracie. How was your party?"

"Great!" she said, reminding him so much of Charlie, and yet the difference reminding how much she'd left that age behind. "It was fun, but I'm exhausted." 

She leaned over to give him a hug, then did the same for Danny. "Night, Uncle Steve. Night, Danno."

She went down the hall and closed the door to her room. "That's my cue," Steve said, standing up, trying to covertly adjust his pants as he rounded the couch. 

"To what?" Danny asked, as he stood up and followed Steve to the door. "Make a strategic retreat?"

Steve took a deep breath as he turned around, hand on the doorknob. "Good night, Daniel." 

"Good night, Steven." 

He could swear Danny was laughing at him has he closed the door.

***


	6. Chapter 6

Steve watched Danny carefully as HPD placed Berg less than gently into the backseat of a cruiser. There was the usual look of grim satisfaction at capturing the bad guy on Danny's face, a look that was always more pronounced when the case pushed Danny's personal buttons. 

And this one hit a few too many. 

Rick Peterson kidnapping Grace. Ray Gardner beating his wife to the point Danny had tricked Ray into beating him up to get him put away. 

And then there was Matt.

Danny had been very thorough in his somewhat drunken recounting of what happened the night Matt left the island. The situation wasn't quite the same, but a criminal getting on a plane, daring them to shoot him...it was a little too close. 

Danny had been quick to come up with the plan--hide inside the gates, put Junior on the plane as backup, all of it rapidfire on the way to the airport. 

How long had he been strategizing all the ways he could've stopped Matt if he'd only had time?

Danny was watching the cruiser pull away as Steve stepped up beside him, arm brushing casually against Danny's. "Hey," Steve said, "you wanna go get a drink?" 

"I think I'm just gonna go home," Danny said, still watching the distant car.

"You sure? Once we make sure the baby gets to the hospital without any unexpected surprises, but we could get dinner and some drinks." 

Danny's smile was a pale imitation of its usual self. "I'm beat," he said, tapping Steve on the bicep. "See if you can get Agent Warren to buy you a drink instead of me running up another tab." 

The joke was as far off the mark as the smile, but after all this time, knowing when not to push was one of the reasons he and Danny were so close. "See you in the morning, then?" Steve asked.

"Yeah." 

Danny headed towards his car, shoulders managing to be slumped and tense all at once, like a couple of drinks would do him a world of good, if only for his muscles. 

Then again, maybe he was off to have a few drinks on his own. Steve would let him lick his wounds in private, at least for tonight. 

There'd be another time to push down the line.

***


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient while I battle an ongoing super fun fight with shingles, which seems to just keep moving up my back and attacking various nerves (it's in my head now--vertigo sucks, in case you were wondering). I've had this outlined since the night the ep aired, but focusing and my eyesight and the pain really aren't conducive to writing. But I finally managed to sit at the computer and focus long enough to get this done! Maybe it'll be kind and let me get the one for 908 done soon, too.

Danny emptied the bottle evenly into their glasses and held his glass up for another toast. "To freedom," he said, and took a drink.

It took Steve a moment to take his drink, distracted by the way Danny licked the edge of the glass before drinking, that one little move making Steve's pants a little tight. He shifted on the stool, glad for the table they'd moved to halfway through the bottle. But he ignored it, as always, taking his drink and giving Danny a smile. 

"So this dream," Danny said, tracing the rim of his glass with his finger, somehow managing to make it look sexy. "You were your grandfather and I was that cop, Milton?"

Steve nodded. "It was weird, because we were us, really, in so many ways. But I kept calling you Milton. I also apparently had a really bad smoking habit. If I wasn't smoking a cigarette, I had a toothpick in my mouth."

"Freud would have a field day with that oral fixation, my friend." 

Watching Danny taking another drink, there was no need for Freud to explain why Steve had an oral fixation with the Milton version of Danny in those suits. And especially in that shoulder holster. 

Maybe he could find a way to make shoulder holsters a requirement for 5-0. 

Yeah, and then give up any hope of concentrating. Ever. 

So maybe not. 

Danny got up and grabbed another bottle, filling both their glasses way past the measure line. His seat also got closer to Steve's as he sat down again. 

"I think the liquor license says you have to stop at the little white line," Steve said. 

Danny shrugged. "If they find out, it'll be Kamekona's problem. But if you're that worried.…" He took a long drink. "There, now it's below the line." 

"Well, I guess I should fix mine, too." Steve took a long drink, eyes on Danny, who was watching a little too closely. 

A second bottle was definitely a bad idea. Lack of sleep, and spending what sleep he had gotten with Danny at his side--whatever he'd been calling him--had his defenses low enough already.

Then again, might as well drink up some of the stock before they sell the place. 

"So did you see your grandmother in this dream?" Danny asked

"There was a picture of her on my desk, pregnant no less, but that was it."

"So you go back in time and the only person you find is me?" 

Something about Danny's tone was puzzling, but either Steve was tired, or he'd had too much alcohol to figure it out. "Well, I mean, Adam was a bad guy, so we saw him for a couple minutes, and Tani was a witness, but she died pretty quick."

Steve took a drink before continuing. "Lou was our captain. He actually suspended us after Tani died--"

"--which is why it's probably good for our careers that you're in charge, because he'd probably have done that years ago," Danny said.

"Did you just say it's good that I'm in charge?"

"Well, I'm half drunk, so my judgement isn't really at its best."

Neither was Steve's. He should call a cab, or an uber, or something. Get out now, before he did something they'd agreed not to do again.

Because for all that they'd agreed, he'd caught onto that tone, and that look, and Danny was sure as hell looking like he was regretting that agreement. 

And then there was the fact that it had all been about waiting until they retired from 5-0. Which they weren't doing now.

For all that he ran his mouth with every single thought in his head seemingly leaving his mouth without a filter, Steve knew better. Danny's babble was a front so you never looked close enough to see what was really going on underneath.

And Steve much preferred knowing what was going on underneath. 

He finished his drink, but Danny refilled it quickly. "You know," Steve said carefully, "if you're trying to get me drunk, you should've used tequila. It hits me a lot harder."

"Why would I be trying to get you drunk?" 

And there was that front. So yeah, maybe they were on the same page--the one with invisible writing that you needed to see in a special light to read. But then why hadn't Danny made a move? He'd had no trouble doing it the first time.

After which Steve had more or less shut him down. 

Okay then. 

"I don't know," Steve said, the words slow, reminding him of the way he'd asked Milton to come look at the burn on his arm in the dream. "Maybe so I'll do this?"

He leaned in, Danny meeting him halfway for a kiss, and oh yeah, they were definitely on the same page. Danny apparently got out of his seat, because suddenly he was standing between Steve's legs, deepening the kiss. 

"I had to get you drunk to do this?" Danny muttered against Steve's lips.

"Well, you could've just asked," Steve said in between kisses, "but you never make anything easy, do you?"

Danny pulled out of the kiss to stare at Steve. " _I_ never make things easy? Like you make them so simple?"

"Sure I do," Steve said. "How's this for simple?" 

He pulled Danny back in, hand on the back of Danny's head, making sure that he didn't pull away to argue the point further. Unnecessary, as it turned out, since Danny's arms wrapped so tightly around Steve as they kissed that he could feel Danny was just as hard as Steve. 

A definite benefit of the stool, which lined up their dicks perfectly. Steve pressed his hips forward, grinding his dick against Danny's, and was rewarded with Danny's fingers digging almost painfully into Steve's back. 

Steve thrust forward again, harder this time, and the world tilted as they tipped over. They managed to roll to the side and avoid the stool, but it wasn't exactly painless. 

"Ow," Danny said, which was fair, considering Steve had landed on top of him. "Seriously, I'm gonna track down one of your old buddies and make them tell me just how much they meant 'Smooth Dog' ironically."

Steve laughed, forehead landing on Danny's chest for a moment. "They'd never tell you," Steve said, raising his head to meet Danny's eyes. "It's classified."

"Oh God, of course it is." 

The last word ended in a groan, as Steve slid slightly off to the side to palm Danny's dick through his pants. Steve leaned down for a kiss, slower this time, as he opened Danny's pants working to get his hand around Danny's naked dick at last. 

But everything spun again, until Steve found himself lying under Danny instead. "Not this time," Danny said, pausing for a kiss before he continued. "This time it's my turn." 

Lost in a haze, the words didn't make sense to Steve until Danny had Steve's dick in his hand and was leaning over it. He didn't have time to brace himself before the first touch of Danny's lips on Steve's dick sent shocks through every part of him all at once. 

The skill Danny applied made it clear this wasn't the first time he'd done this, but Steve pushed the jealousy aside in favor of reveling in the way his soul seemed to be leaving him bit by bit, pulled out by Danny's lips. 

As the tip of his dick touched the back of Danny's mouth, Steve's fingers tightened in the longer hair on top of Danny's head. He needed something to hold onto, something to ground him before he lost his mind and said things he couldn't take back. 

After all, they weren't supposed to be doing this.

He quickly lost the ability to think at all, though, as Danny worked him perfectly until he came far too soon, pushing up into Danny's mouth. That Danny swallowed him down without a second's hesitation was both hot as hell and further fuel for the jealousy he absolutely wasn't thinking about right now.

There'd be plenty of time for a lot of thought later.

By the time most of the pieces of his body had returned inside his skin, Danny was kneeling over him, his dick in hand. "Come here," Steve said, moving Danny's hand to the side and using his own, sliding up and down slower than he could tell Danny wanted. 

Steve wanted it to last, though. Hell, he wanted to tell Danny to come fuck his mouth, or, better yet, his ass, but there were some things that he'd have a lot more trouble giving up than this. Not that this was easy to walk away from a second time. 

But they weren't supposed to be doing it at all.

Danny looked like the best kind of porn, rolling his hips into Steve's hand, eyes on Steve's, making it impossible to look away until they closed as Danny surged forward once more, coming in Steve's hand. 

Steve let go, and Danny sunk down onto the floor, rolling onto his back, breathing hard. After a few moments he started laughing--no, more like giggling. "Probably just as well that we're selling the place to Kamekona," he said after a moment. 

"Why's that?"

Danny turned his head, smiling at Steve. "Because it'd be tough working here every day and having to constantly see this table and the floor beside it."

Steve laughed, because, yeah, he could see how that would make it hard to keep their hands off each other. But then, it was getting tougher to keep his hands off Danny already. 

And they weren't supposed to be doing this until they'd retired. 

But they weren't retiring. 

So now what?

***


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So add 2 car accidents, a concussion, and a resurgence of the vertigo that ended in me being ordered by the doctor not to leave home for 5 days and to severely restrict my screen time, and you have the reason that I'm still behind. Today is the first day I've even felt like writing, and I was having such a hard time keeping everything in order in my head that I had two outlines to get this done, so I hope it all makes sense. 
> 
> Huge thanks to smudgegirl as always for checking for errors (an especially difficult task right now, I'm sure) and the encouragement. :)

Danny flopped back into bed, pulling the covers up quickly. He'd been excited of the prospect of proper Thanksgiving weather, but he had to admit there was something to not having to dive into bed and shiver for ten minutes just to get warm.

Not that he'd ever admit that out loud, 

Then again, if the best Tani could do as honorary QB of Danny's Thanksgiving football team was a tie, there was a good chance Danny would never leave the island for Thanksgiving again anyway.

He opened his phone, scrolling back through the texts from Steve. They hadn't managed to actually talk, which seemed like some sort of odd Thanksgiving travesty in and of itself, but there were plenty of texts. 

_McGarrett 12:27 p.m.: You do realize that if your team loses it's still on you yeah?_

_Me 12:28 p.m.: How you figure that?_

_McGarrett 12:28 p.m.: Your team, you let her take lead_

_Me: 12:29 p.m.: Nothing I can do from 5K miles away pal_

_McGarrett 12:30 p.m.: You keep telling yourself that_

Danny rolled his eyes as he read that again. Like he had any control over the game from Jersey? If he had, the next set of messages wouldn't have happened.

_McGarrett 5:32 p.m.: Tie game_

_Me 5:32 p.m.: Tie? How can there be a tie?_

_McGarrett 5:33 p.m.: Case. Had to stop._

_Met 5:34 p.m.: We are finishing this game when I get back!_

_McGarrett 5:35 p.m.: 😘_

What the hell was that even supposed to mean? 

Danny flipped onto his side, still scrolling. 

_McGarrett 8:42 p.m.: Tani has no idea who Stan Musial is_

_Me 8:42 p.m.: ???? if I'd known that, I wouldn't have let her QB my team_

_McGarrett 8:43 p.m.: Musial was a baseball player Daniel_

_Me 8:44 p.m.: Not the point Steven_

Of course, Danny's question as to why that even came up hadn't been answered. Clearly the case had gotten busy. Still, maybe it was done now. Might at least be worth a call.

Right, because that was the reason he wanted to call. He needed an answer so badly about why the question came up. It certainly wasn't because after realizing he'd fucked up royally and gotten himself in way over his head he'd still gone and had sex with Steve again. 

Nope. Wasn't that at all. And to prove it, all he had to do was make the call.

He hit the button to dial Steve's number, but after four rings, it went to voicemail. 

Danny hung up without leaving a message, put the phone on the nightstand, and turned out the light to stare out the window at the glow of the streetlamp.

***

Steve scrubbed his hair dry with his towel before hanging it back on its rack. He padded into the bedroom and glanced at his phone, lying on the bed, to see a missed call from Danny.

Dammit. Too late to risk calling him back now--it was after midnight in Jersey. 

It shouldn't be weird, not talking to him for a whole day. After all, they'd texted. But still, the whole day had felt a little off kilter, like something had been missing. 

Or someone.

God help him, he'd even missed Danny's tendency to be extremely hands-on during the football game. 

Especially after having Danny's hands--and mouth--on him so recently again. 

The fact that they weren't retiring left that whole side of things in limbo, though that they'd done that after the decision to retire leaned it a little more in favor of something happening.

Unless that had been a sort of goodbye. 

No sense in wondering now, not with Danny an ocean and a continent away. 

Steve dropped the phone and went to get dressed for dinner. 

***

Steve locked the door behind him and set the alarm without bothering to turn on the light. He heard the squeak of the shower turning off upstairs and ducked off into the kitchen so Junior could make his way to bed in peace.

It had been a nice Thanksgiving dinner, with almost all the family together. Mary and Joanie had even Skyped them from L.A. 

Only one gaping hole and an entire table that Steve had managed to avoid going near the whole night had kept it from being perfect.

Junior's footsteps creaked along the landing upstairs before his door opened and closed quietly. Steve grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and downed it in two drinks, the coolness somehow a better match for his mood than the heat that had been boiling up inside.

He tossed the bottle into the recycling and went up to bed.

***

By the fourth time Steve had woken up, the clock looked almost accusing with its 2:42 shining brightly in his face. He gave up, tossing the sheet off and grabbing his phone as he headed quietly downstairs. 

Only when he was in his chair down by the beach did he pull his phone out, thumb hovering over Danny's name to call. It was nearly eight there--late enough that Danny should be up, but early enough that he might catch him alone.

Fuck it.

Steve flipped over to Skype and started a video call.

Danny's answer was quick enough that he'd clearly been awake, but he was also clearly not out of bed. His hair was going in a dozen directions and his eyes were still a little puffy with sleep. 

It should be illegal to look that good first thing in the morning. 

"Really, Steven? Video call first thing in the morning? You miss my face that much?"

God that voice, still sleep rough and going straight to Steve's dick, the teasing tone only making it worse. "I just wanted to get a screenshot of that hair," Steve said. 

"Mhhm." 

Yeah, okay, maybe he wasn't fooling anyone. 

"Not that I'm complaining," Danny continued, "but isn't it like three in the morning there?"

Steve shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." 

Danny's nod made it seem like he understood more than Steve did. "How was dinner?"

"Good. The whole Grover family came."

Danny's eyebrows shot up. "I thought they were doing a big thing at home."

"They were, until Lou burned the kitchen down."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Steve laughed. "Long story, and way funnier to hear him tell it, I promise."

"Well if you didn't call to tell me that story," Danny asked, rolling onto his side, "what's up?"

Steve took a deep breath. "I signed the papers," he said. "The restaurant is officially Kamekona's." 

"Good, then we can say we were successful and sold it for a profit--most people don't get out of the restaurant business that easily."

The air suddenly seemed a little easier to breathe. Somehow Steve had expected some kind of regret, some sign from Danny that he hadn't been as sure as he'd claimed about this move. After all, it had been his dream for years. 

With that dream gone, what was he planning next?

Whatever it was, at least they'd still do it together. Just how together remained to be seen, but the answer didn't seem quite as urgent as it had two minutes ago. 

"So," Danny said, running a hand through his hair and making Steve's fingers itch to follow that path. "What's this about Tani not knowing who Stan Musial was?"

Steve relaxed back into the chair and started in on the story.

***


	9. Chapter 9

Danny piled fried rice on his plate, watching as Steve helped Charlie with his dinner. There were at least fifteen of them at the giant table at Side Street, but Charlie had insisted on sitting next to Steve, pestering him with questions about the comic book as if it had really happened that way.

"But did you really hold the helicopter down using the building like Captain America?" Charlie asked.

"Don't believe a word he says, Charlie," Danny said. 

Steve shot him the hurt puppy dog look that Danny was totally immune to. Totally immune. No matter what anyone else thought. Including Steve. "Are you suggesting I would lie to your children, Daniel?"

"Not at all," Danny said. "Just that you might...embellish the truth a little to make the story more interesting."

"See, Charlie, I didn't really hold the helicopter down--no one could really do that," Steve said, before proceeding to claim he'd done other things that no one should be able to do.

Except Danny had the heart wrenching experience of having seen Steve do them in the past.

Steve had been taking a step back from the crazy--mostly--of late. Danny just hoped that didn't stop now that they weren't retiring. Not now, not when he'd finally realized that he didn't just want to see his kids grow up.

He wanted to watch them grow up with Steve there to help.

***


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am way past my allotted screen time for today, and I am going to pay for this tomorrow with so much headache from this stupid thing attacking my head, but I just could NOT go to bed without writing this. Hope you enjoy - comments gratefully welcome to make up for the massive headache I'll have tomorrow from writing this late tonight.

Steve texted Junior so he could pinpoint their location with just one simple line: 

_Joe's gone. Need pick up here._

He knew Junior would have a helo there quickly--knew Junior had never called off the med-vac, no matter what Joe had said on the phone. They'd be back at the ranch soon enough, and there'd be plenty to do. 

But right now, in the fading sunlight, Steve didn't have anything to do but wait. 

He pulled out his phone and dialed.

"Steve?" 

Danny's voice was better than any music right about then, even in full on angry mode. "How'd you know it was me?"

"Because if it had been any other unknown caller I'd have been pissed. I mean, seriously, have we not talked about this habit of yours of going off unsupervised without telling me, Steven? Because really, I can have the conversation again. With charts and graphs if it will help."

"How'd you know I was gone?"

"Are you serious right now? You think I didn't call Tani after the fifth time your phone went straight to voicemail to find out what kind of trouble you'd gotten yourself into? And let me tell you, she is a terrible liar. _Terrible_. Took her all of five seconds to crack."

Tani could actually be quite a good liar, so if she cracked that quickly, then she'd wanted Danny to know all along, but Steve didn't argue.

Danny, however, had enough arguing in him for both of them. Steve didn't listen to the words so much as let them just wash over him, like every word was a new band aid for one of the thousand of places where he hurt right now. 

When Danny had wound himself down, he was silent for a long moment. "Joe?" he asked, finally, but his tone said Steve didn't need to answer. "Shit. I'm sorry." 

Danny didn't ask for the details, which was good, because Steve wasn't ready to give them. There'd be time later, time to process all of it, to maybe even hint that he had some idea what Danny went through after Steve was shot, and how it could so easily have gone wrong back then. 

Whatever he'd owed Joe over his life, he owed it just as much to Danny--which wasn't exactly news. Hell, he owed him even more in the next moment, for the next words out of his mouth.

"Listen, I know you gotta do what you gotta do," Danny said. "Deal with whatever fallout there tonight. But you're booked on the first flight out of Butte tomorrow morning to San Francisco. Grace and me, we'll meet you at the airport when you land."

"Danny, I can't--"

"Just a day, Steve. Just...just come hang out with us for the day, and whatever you need to do to after that, you can deal with it then. All right?"

"Yeah." Steve looked out where the sun was setting. He needed to check in on the team coming to get Joe, he needed to get back and make sure they processed the scene at the ranch to follow any ties back to anyone connected to Hassan who might have leads on anyone left to come for them. 

And then he'd get cleaned up and head for the airport. 

"I gotta go," Steve said. He pushed up off the ground, careful to support Joe as he laid him gently on the grass. 

"My phone's charged up," Danny said. "And the ringer is on." 

"I don't wanna wake Grace."

"She's got her own room. You won't be disturbing anyone."

"Okay. Thanks." 

"See you tomorrow."

Steve hung up the phone, shoved it in his pocket, and went to work.

***

Steve dozed a little on the short plane ride to California, memories mixed with nightmares, combined with the constant noise of other people on a plane, never quite letting him fall asleep. But he'd barely made it to the airport in time for the flight, and he was tired and sore, and was grateful for whatever strings Danny had tugged on to get him a first class seat, even if he couldn't use it to sleep. 

Half an hour out from SFO, Steve went into the bathroom to try to make himself look as presentable as possible. There was no way he could hide that he'd been in a hell of a fight, but the less he could scare Grace, the better.

Then again, she'd spent half her life seeing Five-0 in the aftermath of battles; it wasn't like it was new. 

The plane touched down not long after sunrise. San Francisco seemed sunny and overly bright, the airport was too loud and too hectic, the juxtaposition from that sunset last night more jarring than it should be somehow.

God, had it really only been last night? 

The noise was disorienting, but Steve managed to find the sign pointing toward baggage claim, only to realize he had no bags to claim, and that Danny hadn't said where to meet.

But the moment he stepped outside the secure area, he spotted Danny and Grace, leaning against a nearby wall. Grace ran forward, arms wrapping around Steve's waist like a desperately needed anchor.

Danny stood to the side, just close enough that Steve could smell his aftershave, even through the million scents that invaded an airport. Grace smiled up at Steve as she let go and stepped back. "Welcome to San Francisco."

"So is this going to be your new home away from home?" Steve asked.

She shrugged. "We just got here."

Steve raised an eyebrow at Danny, only then noticing they were both lugging carry ons with them. "We took an earlier flight to meet you here," Danny said. "We're seeing the school tomorrow." 

"So we have the whole day to spend with you," Grace said. 

As he'd left Joe's ranch that morning, Steve had considered calling Danny and saying he couldn't make it, that there was too much to do, or some other excuse, some way to avoid being around people. 

But these weren't people--they were _his_ people.

"I trust you have an itinerary planned?" Steve said.

Danny groaned. "There's a schedule in the calendar on her phone."

"Yup," Grace said, "so we'd better get going."

***

Danny snagged a french fry off Grace's plate. "I'm just saying that there might have been a certain familial resemblance between the Western Lowland Gorilla at the zoo and Steve, that's all."

Grace frowned at him. "Danno, that's not nice." 

"Yeah, Danno," Steve said, though there was zero annoyance in his tone, "not nice at all."

Steve looked around the hotel restaurant, marking the exits and choke points out of habit. Just because they'd killed all the guys with guns in Montana didn't mean more weren't coming. 

Which was why he shouldn't have taken this risk.

_Don't wait until it's too late._

One of the last pieces of advice Joe had given him. Here and now, it felt like he hadn't really waited, though. This family was _his_ , as much as anyone who'd actually gotten married and had kids or step kids or whatever. Their team back in Hawaii, their extended ohana--it was all family in a way that Joe had never quite managed, not with all his CIA work.

If he hadn't met Danny that day in the garage, if Danny hadn't challenged him to the point of insanity until he'd had to stay, just to work out that puzzle...that could have been Steve. Nothing but the next mission until everything else had passed him by.

Instead, he had this. 

"What's up?" Danny asked, quietly enough for Grace to ignore as she checked her phone.

Steve shook his head. "Just thinking."

"Oh, and here I thought maybe something was burning in the kitchen, but it's just those rusty gears actually trying to work."

Steve rolled his eyes, but his shoulders felt a little lighter as he took a drink.

***

Grace gave him another tight hug before saying goodnight and going into her room of the suite and closing the door. Danny led Steve to the other bedroom, which had one big bed and a spectacular view of the city. "Wasn't expecting to share when I booked it," Danny said, nodding at the bed. "But there's more than enough room." 

Like they hadn't shared beds, even couches in the past. And then some. Still, he appreciated the courtesy explanation, even if he hated the way Danny was being so careful with him, the way he had been all day. 

Steve wasn't broken. He was a SEAL, and SEALs didn't break. Danny didn't need to be careful.

Danny's hand landed on Steve's arm, gentle, as if he might startle Steve if he touched too hard. "You want the shower first?"

The softness of the tone, matching the touch, so much care there…. Steve swallowed carefully. "Yeah," he said, his voice a little rough. "I'll just be a few minutes." 

"Okay."

Steve grabbed his bag and closed himself in the bathroom, leaning back against the door, squeezing his eyes closed against the wetness there.

***

By the time Danny was done in the shower, Steve was enjoying the feeling of a soft bed under his aching muscles. He'd spent a few more minutes in the shower than usual, just enjoying the hot water on them, but they were starting to tighten up again now. 

He'd have to spend some extended time stretching in the morning before he left just to be mobile enough to be ready if he met another attack.

Danny came out of the bathroom, turning off lights on his way to the bed. He climbed under the sheets to the glow of just the one lamp, still a long distance away across such a large bed. "I bet you could use some sleep by now," Danny said, as he turned off the lamp, the only light left the faint glow from the streets dozens of floors below. 

"Hey, Danny," Steve said, after a minute. He turned to see Danny watching him, waiting. Always waiting for cues, that was Danny. Waiting to follow Steve's lead. "Thanks. Today was...I mean...thanks."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Come here," he said, grabbing Steve's arm and guiding him into the middle of the bed. Steve came willingly, rolling until his head was on Danny's chest, the comforting sound of Danny's heart beating alive and well just below Steve's ear. 

Danny's arms wrapped loosely around Steve's shoulders. "Go to sleep," he whispered into Steve's hair. "I've got your back."

***


	11. Chapter 11

The bed felt too big when Danny woke up. His brain took a few seconds to come online before he registered that he was alone in the bed. And the room, judging by the lack of noise.

He was halfway to the bathroom when he saw the piece of hotel stationery on the dresser, Steve's handwriting familiar even at a distance. Danny picked it up and read the short note:

_  
Danno,_

_Had to head back, but I'll see you soon._

_And thank you._

_Steve  
_

__I__ t wasn't entirely surprising, but still a little disappointing. All he could do was hope the last 24 hours had given Steve enough to find a way through.

***

Steve sank into the backseat of a cab. "Airport," he told the driver, waiting until they pulled away from the hotel to scroll through his contacts and click on one.

It went to a generic voicemail, as expected, but Steve knew it would get through and he'd get a call back soon.

"Joe's gone," he said tersely. "And I need your help."

He hung up, holding the phone and trying not to stare at it, willing it to ring, because he'd like to have some idea where he was headed by the time he got to the airport.

Of course, he could have just stayed at the hotel until he had a plan. Getting out of that bed, walking out the door...it was a lot harder than it should have been. He'd desperately needed the sleep, and he wasn't above admitting to himself that he wouldn't have felt safe anywhere else.

But he'd needed that sleep to do a job, and now that he'd had rest, it was time to get to work.

Even so, leaving the best backup he'd ever have behind had made it tough to open the hotel room door. But there were things he needed to do that Danny couldn't. Or shouldn't.

Danny had kids. He couldn't run all over the globe chasing down leads to a terrorist with hitmen on his trail. Steve had no choice but to leave him behind and in the dark until this was done.

Right now there was no past, and there was no future. There was only the mission until it was done for good. Stop the hitmen, find Greer, end the threat. Focusing on anything else could end in disaster.

Steve's phone rang, the screen showing a blocked number. "McGarrett," he answered.

"Hey, it's Catherine. Just got your message. I'm so sorry about Joe."

She could be sorry later. There were more important things right now. "Thanks. I'm gonna need your help. Off the books."

"Whatever you need."

***

Steve picked at the Green Beans label on his coffee cup, spinning his phone on the table as he waited for his flight. Catherine was already on the money trail. Hopefully by the time he met up with her, she'd have a solid lead to follow back to Hassan.

The phone buzzed with a text, a picture of the goofiest face Danny had ever made beside it. The contact photo, a gift from Grace, was like another life, but it still made Steve smile as he opened the text.

_A letter? Really? What'd I tell you about that?_

Steve pulled up the keyboard. _Sorry. Had an early flight. Didn't want to wake you._

A moment later the phone buzzed again. _Understand. When you coming home?_

It shouldn't affect him still, after all these years, when Danny called Oahu home. But that didn't seem to stop it. _Not sure._ Steve typed. _Have some loose ends to tie up before it's safe._

The reply came quickly. _I'm here if you need anything._

He needed a lot of things. But none of them could involve Danny. Not right now. _I know. Thanks._

"Ladies and gentlemen, flight 16 with non-stop service to JFK will be boarding in just a few minutes. Please have your tickets out and be ready to board when your group is called. Thank you."

Steve finished his coffee and stood up. He shouldered his duffel as he shoved his phone in his pocket before heading for the gate.

***

"He's late," Steve said, checking his watch.

"Only a couple of minutes," Catherine said. "It's not like this place is easy to find."

Considering they'd had a map and a compass as well as an electronic GPS and they had barely managed it, she had a point. "Why did we have to meet in the middle of nowhere in Kansas again?"

Catherine shrugged. "Because that's where he agreed."

"And why do we trust him?"

"We don't," she said sharply, scanning the horizon from behind the large wall of dilapidated crates they were using for cover from the dirt road leading to the deserted barn. "Which is why we got here early to make sure it wasn't an ambush, which is why you keep thinking he's later than he is."

"Sorry," Steve said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks, not since San Francisco.

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Steve's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Danny.

_You learned how to rope a steer yet?_

Steve rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help smiling at his phone as he typed back, _Almost. Should have the hang of it soon._

_So once you've mastered that, you coming home?_

Always that lurch in his gut when Danny used that word. It never failed. _Soon_ , was all Steve could reply, though.

"Here he comes," Catherine said.

In the distance Steve could see a car kicking up dust as it got closer. He put his phone away and pulled out his gun.

***

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final boarding call for American Airlines flight 5, with nonstop service from Dallas to Honolulu International Airport. If you are booked on this flight we ask that you please make your way to gate 34 immediately. The doors are closing."

A young couple ran by in Hawaiian shirts, stopping to join the short line a few gates away. Honeymooners, from the looks of them--he saw enough of them in Honolulu to recognize the look. Off on their first adventure as newlyweds, imagining the rest of their life will be just as exciting.

Of course, the delusion probably wore off pretty quickly once they were back home, back to their normal lives, but that wasn't the point.

The couple disappeared down the jet bridge, doors closing behind them, as they headed to the one place Steve wished he could go.

But there was work to do before he could go home.

His phone buzzed, Danny's face lighting up the screen with a message.

_Seriously, how long does it take you to breed horses?_

Steve rolled his eyes. _Breed horses?_

_I can't think of anything else to do in Montana._

_I'm enjoying the peace and quiet. Something you wouldn't know anything about._

_Right, because a peaceful day for you is anything that involves less than two gun fights._

The Honolulu flight pulled away from the jet bridge and taxied off to the runway. _A peaceful day for me is a day you're off work._

_You get bored without me. Admit it._

The plane picked up speed and took off. He turned to see Catherine headed his way as the first call went out for their flight.

 _Maybe a little._ Steve wrote back, before he got up, shoving his phone in his pocket, and joined Catherine on the way to the gate.

*** 

_Maybe a little._

Danny stared at the text for a moment, then focused on his computer screen. Or, more specifically, on the little GPS dot over Dallas Fort Worth Airport.

He might have stopped short of Lojacking Steve in his sleep, but that hadn't stopped him from making Jerry teach him how to use the special tracking system on Five-0's phones last year.

As often as Steve seemed to get lost, it was only prudent for Danny to know exactly how to find him.

It didn't take a Ph.D. to figure out why Steve was lying about where he was and what he was doing. He'd lost so many people already, and he'd just lost Joe. The last thing he would want was to be the reason Danny was put in danger, the reason Grace and Charlie might lose their dad.

Knowing why didn't make it any easier to put up with. Slightly less frustrating, maybe, but he was Steve's partner. It was his job to have Steve's back. And it wasn't a job he entrusted to others easily.

Especially not to people who'd led Steve straight into the hands of the Taliban and almost gotten him killed.

Danny watched as the GPS light turned from green to red. So they were on a plane again. Impossible to tell exactly where, though he could narrow it down if he really wanted.

He didn't.

After a moment, he closed the program and went back to his case report.

***

Steve stepped out of the bathroom and into his room right beside it, closing the door softly. He didn't want to wake Catherine across the hall. After the day they'd had, they'd earned some sleep.

At least the safe house Catherine had conjured up on the outskirts of Miami was in a relatively quiet neighborhood where no one would think to look for them. He turned off the light and dropped down onto the bed without even pulling the covers back, closing his eyes before his head hit the pillow.

But sleep wouldn't come.

After a few minutes, he rolled over and picked up his phone from the nightstand, re-reading the last message from Danny.

_Grace graduated college yesterday. Charlie got his driver's license. And I retired._

He'd sent it a couple of hours ago, but Steve hadn't decided quite how to respond. He stared at it a moment longer before hitting the call button.

Danny answered on the second ring. "You know, I knew the idea of me retiring would be too much for you."

Steve laughed. "Sorry, I was, um...showering."

"The gardening has you so dirty that you need a two hour shower?"

"Gardening?"

"Or whatever you've been doing up there in Montana." Something was a little off in Danny's voice, but Steve was too tired to figure out what it was.

Steve settled onto his back, phone against his ear. "Never mind Montana," he said. "Tell me what's going on back home."

Danny was halfway through a story about a perfectly normal case they were working when Steve fell asleep.

***

Danny turned on the computer as soon as he sat down at his desk, the tracking program open before he'd even settled into his chair. The dot still hadn't moved since last night. Three days at the ranch in Montana without going anywhere. Three days in which Steve hadn't answered a text or a call.

So either Steve had found something, or he'd hit a dead end and was nursing his wounds.

Either way, nothing good could come of leaving him alone much longer. Danny's fingers hovered over his keyboard for a few seconds before he started searching for flights.

***

Steve drove to the airfield, one eye on the road, the other on Danny in the rear view mirror. Catherine was asleep in the passenger seat, or at least doing a very good impression of it, but Danny was just sitting there, staring out the window at the lack of scenery.

He had taken everything in stride. He hadn't even yelled at Steve for calling everyone but him.

Of course, sometimes Danny not \yelling was worse than if he was.

Steve met Danny's eyes in the mirror, something familiar and hollow flashing from them for a moment before Danny turned back to look out the window.

This. This was the other reason Steve hadn't wanted Danny anywhere near this. He wasn't built the same way Steve, Catherine, Junior and Wade were. The Navy trained them to see murder in the name of the greater good as honorable.

But trying that had nearly destroyed Danny. And Steve didn't want to bring any of that back to the surface.

Then there was the fact that Danny would be a target if they didn't complete the mission. If Hassan lived, Danny could end up on another hit list that Steve was responsible for. As much as it felt better, having Danny watching his back, the memory of Joe and that tree, the way Joe had slumped into him when he'd passed, was too fresh.

He couldn't lose Danny. Not now.

So then they'd just have to make sure Hassan went down.

***

Much of the flight back to Montana was quiet--the post-adrenaline rush drain had led to some heavy sleeping. Steve said goodbye to Wade and then to Catherine, before he, Danny and Junior headed back to the ranch to get their things before their flight.

The silence was oppressive by the time they reached the ranch. "I just need to get a few things and lock up," Steve said, as he headed for the house. He opened the door, grateful Catherine had cleaned up after they'd gotten their information.

His footsteps echoed through the house as he went from room to room, making sure things were in order and he hadn't left anything.

Danny was waiting inside by the door when Steve finished. "Where's Junior?" Steve asked.

"He got a call," Danny said, jerking his head towards the door. "You okay?"

"I'll be okay," Steve said.

"But you're not now."

Steve shrugged. There was no point in denying it. Danny knew him too well to let him get by with it.

"It's not your fault."

"I know."

Danny studied him for a moment. "But it doesn't matter, does it? Knowing?"

Steve shook his head. He should apologize for leaving Danny in the dark, for not calling him in to help. "Danny," he started, meeting Danny's gaze, then stopped.

He didn't need to apologize, he could see it in Danny's eyes. Danny knew why Steve had left him out of it--he'd probably known before Steve did. Just like Steve had known it was no use trying to talk Danny out of coming along once he'd gotten here.

They knew each other too well to need explanations.

"You ready to go home?" Danny said.

"Yeah," Steve said. "Yeah, let's go."

***


End file.
